The First Disney Queen
by Julia451
Summary: The other Disney princesses try to reassure a nervous Elsa the night before her debut. One-shot.


"So, Elinor, Marianne, ready to show the world your story?"

The two sisters smiled at the bookworm's affectionate nicknames for them. "I was born ready, Belle!" Anna replied with her typical exuberance.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Elsa whispered.

Rapunzel caught the words as she walked by the three women and stopped and turned to them. "Nervous, Elsa?" she asked.

"A little." Elsa's three companions stared at her for a second before she sighed and added, "More than a little." She felt a hand fall on her shoulder and turned to find Ariel had joined them as well.

"That's normal," the redhead assured her. "We all went through it, but don't worry – you're going to be great."

Elsa smiled briefly but then said, "It's just... so much pressure."

"I know," Giselle said as she joined them. "Don't let it get to you – it's not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be."

"Everyone's counting on me to... to..." Elsa stammered, at a loss for words as she thought once again of the enormity of the responsibility resting on her shoulders.

"... To redeem the Disney princess honor," Mulan finished for her.

"To erase the weak, meek, naïve, sweet, innocent, helpless damsel-in-distress image," Belle added sarcastically.

Jasmine crossed her arms. "This isn't fair."

"No, it's not," the steady voice of Cinderella agreed, "but Aurora doomed us all with a reputation for being as passive, shallow, and boring as she was." The others fell silent – they always felt a little shy around their oldest sisters. "We've all been paying the price for her weakness ever since."

"Life isn't always fair," said Snow White. "We just have to work through it as best we can." She reached for an apple in the fruit bowl on the table by them, only to have it shot out of her hand and impaled in the wall by an arrow.

Mulan groaned, pulled the arrow out of the wall, yanked the apple off, and tossed the fruit towards the staircase. "Watch it, Merida!"

The shooter caught the apple effortlessly and took a huge bite as she jumped over the banister to the floor. "Oh, calm down," she said nonchalantly. "Come on, everyone, this party's starting to look like a wake. We're supposed to be celebrating!"

"Save the celebrating for after the premiere," Elsa said softly. "We might not need it."

"We will," said Rapunzel, throwing her arm around Elsa's right shoulder. "You can do this!"

Elsa was starting to shake her head in doubt when Tiana took her other shoulder. "Tonight, you're gonna finish what we started," she said, gesturing around from Mulan to Giselle to herself to Rapunzel, "and the whole world's gonna love it!"

"But none of you have ever done _this _before," Elsa pointed out.

"That's what makes you so lucky," Ariel said, beaming. "None of us ever got this chance. You should enjoy it!"

Rapunzel and Tiana stepped aside as Snow White placed both her hands on Elsa's shoulders. "You're the first one of us to receive this honor," she said. "Do you know how proud we are of you?"

"What difference does one word make?" Elsa asked.

"Depends on how ridiculous the word is," Mulan answered, scowling.

"They never should have let that misnomer get so out of control," Jasmine said in annoyance. "They should have put an end to it decades ago."

"That's _your_ job now!" Merida said excitedly, pointing her bow at the girl who held their reputation and their future in her hands.

Tiana lightly pushed the bow aside as she corrected her: "That's _our_ job – _all_ of us. But the ball's in _your_ court tonight."

"We've all done our best," said Belle, glancing around at each face in the group. "But you... _you're_ the one everyone's been hoping for and never expected to see."

"The one who gets to be more than a 'princess,' " Mulan laughed.

Anna gave her sister a light hug. "You're going to be great, Elsa."

"You're going to blow them away!" Giselle exclaimed, twirling around once.

"You're going to give them a show they'll never forget," said Cinderella.

Elsa was starting to catch their confidence. "I hope so," she said, returning their smiles. "I want to do a good job."

"You will," Snow White assured her.

"I hope they like what they see," Elsa continued. "It's hard to figure out what they want these days."

"Just be yourself," Belle said laconically. "That's all you need."

"What if they think it's overkill?" Elsa asked, glancing at Tiana and Rapunzel.

"They probably will," Cinderella said, crossing her arms. "They complain for years about who we are and how we live and how we cope with all the craziness in our lives, so, naturally, they should complain when things change."

Ariel shrugged and said, "Well, after tonight, at least there are some things they can never complain about us again."

"Yes," Giselle agreed before her voice switched from speaking to singing:

"_How long we've waited for this day_

_when all the ghosts of the past are brushed away,_

_when you break the curse that's haunted us for years!"_

Jasmine took Elsa's hands in her own and sang, _"Tonight's the night you redeem our name..."_

"_Set us free from decades of scorn and shame..."_ sang Cinderella.

Ariel finished: _"Silence the critics, and calm all parents' fears..."_

The entire group, including Elsa and Anne began dancing as Snow White took over:

" '_Cause for the first time in forever_

_a princess becomes a queen!"_

Rapunzel leaped onto a table and sang:

"_For the first time in forever,_

_Disney's got something no one's seen!"_

Mulan threw her arm around Elsa: _"Tonight's your night to shine!"_

Tiana joined her: _"We know you won't let us down..."_

Belle held up the crown Elsa would receive at her coronation, walked over, and placed it on the girl's head as she sang:

" '_Cause for the first time in forever_

_a princess wears the crown!"_

Elsa raised her head and smiled at Belle, who curtseyed and bowed before the first one of them to wear the crown of an actual ruler with full and complete authority over a nation.

The pause of awed silence lasted until Snow White sang out:

"_No point in saying it's unfair –_

_this legacy we've been forced to share."_

Cinderella danced over to her: _"No use arguing if it's false or true."_

Anna slid across the floor and around all of them:

"_They want something different, something more_

_than the pretty princess they've known before."_

Giselle twirled back over to Elsa: _"All these years, what they've waited for is you..." _The others lined up in a row, which Giselle led her passed as she continued:

"_When for the first time in forever_

_the princess steps aside..."_

Jasmine took Elsa by the hand as she took up the song:

"_And for the first time in forever_

_a young queen will arise."_

Merida more laughed than sang the next verse:

"_They say girls need more than the image_

_of a pretty princess to embrace..."_

The line of women shifted as Elsa moved, so that the whole row was standing behind her and bowed as Ariel's voice rang out:

"_So for the first time in forever,_

_a queen will take her place."_

Elsa, now ready burst with the infectious excitement, took a second to catch her breath. She finally said, "Technically, it's not like I'm the very first Disney queen or anything..."

"The first Disney queen who's not old and evil," Merida observed bluntly.

Rapunzel and Tiana glared at her on their mother's and mother's-in-law behalf. "Don't let Aurora hear you say that," Tiana warned her.

"Or your mother, for that matter," Cinderella added.

Jasmine rolled her eyes and said firmly, "The first young, pretty queen who's a central character and not a mother or evil step-mother."

"That's a first all right," Anna said redundantly.

"Exactly," said Belle, before singing, _"You're the first of us to take that next step."_

Tiana sang next:

"_Don't try to say you're not ready yet_

_for the day a princess never gets to see..."_

"_For the future where she never goes..."_ sang Rapunzel.

"_The seat of power she never knows..."_ sang Mulan.

"_The one thing that..."_ Merida began, before the whole group joined her: _"... she never gets to be!"_

"_Now for the first time in forever_

_a princess takes the throne!_

_For the first time in forever_

_the kingdom is all your own!_

_No king to sit beside you!_

_You're free to reign alone_

_for the first time in forever!"_

It was then that Snow White took Elsa's shoulders in her hands again and half-sang, half-sighed contentedly, _"Disney, look how much you've grown!"_

Elsa let her leader give her one last reassuring hug. When they parted, she said happily, "Thank you," and then turned to the rest of the group. "Thank you all."

Anna stepped to her sister's side. "Ready now, Elsa?"

"I can't wait!" Elsa exclaimed, shooting a shower of ice flakes up above their heads. The others applauded and cheered the display and the confidence behind it.

"Neither can we," said Snow White, and she held a rose out to each of the sisters – a red one to Anna, and a white one to Elsa. "Welcome aboard, Rose Red, Snow White," she said to each of them with a wink. The two of them laughed while the others grinned at their leader's chosen nicknames for the newcomers.

"Better name than 'the Snow Queen,' " Tiana observed.

"Why?" Mulan asked.

"Because the Snow Queen _was_ evil," Belle explained.

Elsa shook her head. "I'm _not_ the Snow Queen."

"But you are a _wicked_ queen," said Merida.

A collective groan went through the group as Elsa held her palm against her forehead. "_Please _don't start that again."


End file.
